Resource Unit Allocation Subfield Designs For Trigger-Based And Self-Contained Signaling In Extreme High-Throughput Systems

ABSTRACT

A method pertaining to resource unit (RU) allocation subfield designs for trigger-based and self-contained signaling in extreme high-throughput (EHT) systems involves receiving a signaling and determining allocation of one or more RUs according to a 9-bit RU allocation subfield indicated in the signaling. The method also involves performing wireless communications using the one or more RUs.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional patent applicationclaiming the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.63/011,321, filed 17 Apr. 2020, the content of which being incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to wireless communicationsand, more particularly, to resource unit (RU) allocation subfielddesigns for trigger-based and self-contained signaling in extremehigh-throughput (EHT) systems.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this sectionare not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted asprior art by inclusion in this section.

In next-generation wireless communications, such as wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) EHT systems in accordance with the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11be standard,transmission over an aggregation of multiple RUs (herein interchangeablyreferred to as “multi-RU”, “M-RU” and “MRU”) for a single user (e.g.,user equipment (UE)) is allowed. In addition, the wider bandwidth of 320MHz is also supported in EHT systems. Therefore, there is a need for asolution that extends RU allocation subfield design defined in IEEE802.11ax to support RU allocation signaling for wider bandwidths andaggregated MRUs.

SUMMARY

The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to belimiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided tointroduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel andnon-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations arefurther described below in the detailed description. Thus, the followingsummary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimedsubject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope ofthe claimed subject matter.

An objective of the present disclosure is to provide schemes, concepts,designs, techniques, methods and apparatuses pertaining to RU allocationsubfield designs for trigger-based and self-contained signaling in EHTsystems. Under various proposed schemes in accordance with the presentdisclosure, one additional bit in the RU allocation subfield may beutilized to support RU allocation signaling for both wider bandwidths of320 MHz aggregated MRUs. It is believed that the proposed RU allocationsubfield designs may be used for self-contained type signaling for bothuplink (UL) trigger frame based signaling and downlink (DL) EHT-SIGsignaling.

In one aspect, a method may involve receiving a signaling anddetermining allocation of one or more RUs according to a total 9-bit RUallocation subfield indicated in the signaling. The method may alsoinvolve performing wireless communications using the one or more RUs.

In another aspect, a method may involve receiving a trigger frameindicating a 9-bit RU allocation subfield. The method may also involvedetermining allocation of one or more RUs in a bandwidth up to a 320-MHzbandwidth according to the 9-bit RU allocation subfield in an RUallocation table which indicates single RUs of different sizes and aplurality of aggregations of multiple RUs. The method may furtherinvolve performing an UL transmission using the one or more RUsresponsive to receiving the trigger frame.

It is noteworthy that, although description provided herein may be inthe context of certain radio access technologies, networks and networktopologies such as, Wi-Fi, the proposed concepts, schemes and anyvariation(s)/derivative(s) thereof may be implemented in, for and byother types of radio access technologies, networks and networktopologies such as, for example and without limitation, Bluetooth,ZigBee, 5th Generation (5G)/New Radio (NR), Long-Term Evolution (LTE),LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, Internet-of-Things (IoT), Industrial IoT(IIoT) and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). Thus, the scope of the presentdisclosure is not limited to the examples described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute apart of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate implementationsof the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explainthe principles of the disclosure. It is appreciable that the drawingsare not necessarily in scale as some components may be shown to be outof proportion than the size in actual implementation to clearlyillustrate the concept of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example network environment in which varioussolutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may beimplemented.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a summary of RUs and aggregated MRUs as definedin IEEE 802.11be.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example design under a first proposed schemein accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example design under the second proposedscheme in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of an example scenario under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of an example design under a second proposed schemein accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of an example design under a third proposed schemein accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a diagram of an example design under a fourth proposed schemein accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an example communication system inaccordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with animplementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with animplementation of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Detailed embodiments and implementations of the claimed subject mattersare disclosed herein. However, it shall be understood that the disclosedembodiments and implementations are merely illustrative of the claimedsubject matters which may be embodied in various forms. The presentdisclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and shouldnot be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments andimplementations set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodimentsand implementations are provided so that description of the presentdisclosure is thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope ofthe present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the descriptionbelow, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted toavoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments andimplementations.

Overview

Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate tovarious techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to RUallocation subfield designs for trigger-based and self-containedsignaling in EHT systems. According to the present disclosure, a numberof possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is,although these possible solutions may be described below separately, twoor more of these possible solutions may be implemented in onecombination or another.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network environment 100 in which varioussolutions and schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may beimplemented. FIG. 2˜FIG. 19 illustrate examples of implementation ofvarious proposed schemes in network environment 100 in accordance withthe present disclosure. The following description of various proposedschemes is provided with reference to FIG. 1˜FIG. 19.

Referring to FIG. 1, network environment 100 may involve at least astation (STA) 110 communicating wirelessly with a STA 120. Each of STA110 and STA 120 may be a non-access point (non-AP) STA or,alternatively, either of STA 110 and STA 120 may function as an AP. Insome cases, STA 110 and STA 120 may be associated with a basic serviceset (BSS) in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards (e.g.,IEEE 802.11be and future-developed standards). Each of STA 110 and STA120 may be configured to communicate with each other by utilizing thenew RU allocation subfield designs for trigger-based and self-containedsignaling in EHT systems in accordance with various proposed schemesdescribed below. That is, either or both of STA 110 and STA 120 mayfunction as a “user” in the proposed schemes and examples describedbelow.

In IEEE 802.11ax, DL HE-SIG-B and UL trigger frame use different RUallocation subfield designs for the RU allocation subfield in the userinformation field of a trigger frame, although both use eight bits(e.g., bits B7˜B0, with bit B7 being the most-significant bit (MSB) andbit B0 being the least-significant bit (LSB)) for the RU allocationsubfield to indicate RU assignment for each user. For the RU allocationsubfield used in trigger-based (TB) physical layer convergence procedureprotocol data unit (PPDU) signaling, bits B7˜B1 are used to indicateeach RU index in an 80-MHz segment, and bit B0 is used to indicate each80-MHz segment. That is, B0=0 for bandwidth (BW)=20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80MHz or a primary 80-MHz bandwidth when BW=160 MHz or 80+80 MHz, withB0=1 for a secondary 80-MHz bandwidth when BW=160 MHz or 80+80 MHz.

FIG. 2 illustrates a summary 200 of RUs and aggregated MRUs as definedin IEEE 802.11be, showing the maximum number of RUs and MRUs for eachchannel width. In summary 200, the value indicated in the “RU size”column indicates the size of a RU or MRU in terms of a number of tones.For instance, “26” indicates an RU of 26 tones (herein interchangeablyreferred to as “RU26”), “52” indicates an RU of 52 tones (hereininterchangeably referred to as “RU52”), “78” indicates an MRU of 78tones as an aggregate of RU26 and RU52 (herein interchangeably referredto as “MRU78” or “MRU(26+52)”), and so on.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example scenario 300 under a proposed scheme inaccordance with the present disclosure. Under the proposed scheme, the8-bit RU allocation subfield defined in IEEE 802.11ax may be extended byadding one bit for a 9-bit RU allocation subfield design in IEEE802.11be and future wireless technologies. That is, total nine bits maybe utilized for IEEE 802.11be RU allocation subfield for either triggerframe signaling or self-contained EHT-SIG signaling. Moreover, under theproposed scheme, the IEEE 802.11be RU allocation field may indicate bothregular single RU and aggregated multi-RU (MRU). As shown in FIG. 3,among the nine bits of the RU allocation subfield for IEEE 802.11be(e.g., bits B8B7B6B5B4B3B2B1 B0), the most significant seven bits (e.g.,B8B7B6B5B4B3B2) may be utilized to indicate the RU and MRU size andindexing while the least significant two bits (e.g., B1 B0) may beutilized to indicate each 80 MHz segment, in which of up to four 80-MHzsegments (of a bandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth) the RU/MRU isallocated, or B1 may be used to indicate which of two 80-MHz segmentsthe RU/MRU is allocated in a 160-MHz bandwidth/segment and B0 may beused to indicate which of two 160-MHz segment the RU/MRU is allocated ina 320-MHz bandwidth.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example design 400 in accordance with a proposedscheme in accordance with the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 4,entries in the upper portion of an RU allocation table of design 400 maybe the same as those in IEEE 802.11ax, while entries in the lowerportion of the RU allocation table of design 400 may be new and used foraggregated multi-RUs for IEEE 802.11be and future wireless technologies.For those entries (0˜68) of RUs supported in IEEE 802.11ax, the subfieldvalues of bits B8˜B2 may be kept the same as the subfield values of bitsB7˜B1 in the IEEE 802.11ax RU allocation subfield.

In design 400, nine bits (e.g., bits B8˜B0) are used for the RUallocation subfield. Under the proposed scheme, the most significantseven bits (namely, bits B8˜B2) of the RU allocation subfield may beused to indicate an RU index within a respective 80-MHz segment of agiven bandwidth (e.g., 320 MHz or 160 MHz), and the least significanttwo bits (namely, bits B1 B0) of the RU allocation subfield may be usedto indicate or otherwise identify the respective 80-MHz segment of thegiven bandwidth in which RU allocation is located. For instance, adecimal value of 0 (corresponding to “00” for bits B1 B0) may indicate afirst 80-MHz segment, a decimal value of 1 (corresponding to “01” forbits B1B0) may indicate a second 80-MHz segment, a decimal value of 2(corresponding to “10” for bits B1 B0) may indicate a third 80-MHzsegment, and a decimal value of 3 (corresponding to “11” for bits B1 B0)may indicate a fourth 80-MHz segment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example design 500 in accordance with a proposedscheme in accordance with the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 5provides an illustration of how the two least significant bits, B1 B0,of the RU allocation subfield may be utilized to indicate in which80-MHz segment(s) an RU/MRU of a size equal to or less than 996 tones,as well as a size greater than 996 tones, may be located.

For RUs and MRUs with a size equal to or less than 996 tones (RU≤996), adecimal value of 0 (corresponding to “00” for bits B1 B0) may indicateRU allocation in a first 80-MHz segment, a decimal value of 1(corresponding to “01” for bits B1 B0) may indicate RU allocation in asecond 80-MHz segment, a decimal value of 2 (corresponding to “10” forbits B1 B0) may indicate RU allocation in a third 80-MHz segment, and adecimal value of 3 (corresponding to “11” for bits B1 B0) may indicateRU allocation in a fourth 80-MHz segment.

For RUs and MRUs with a size greater than 996 tones (RU or MRU>996), adecimal value of 1 (corresponding to “01” for bits B1 B0) may indicateRU allocation across a first boundary, which is between the first andthe second 80-MHz segments, and within a first 160-MHz segment of a320-MHz bandwidth. Similarly, a decimal value of 2 (corresponding to“10” for bits B1B0) may indicate RU allocation across a second boundary,which is between the second and the third 80-MHz segments, and within afirst 240-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth. Likewise, a decimalvalue of 3 (corresponding to “11” for bits B1 B0) may indicate RUallocation across a third boundary, which is between the third and thefourth 80-MHz segments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example scenario 600 in accordance with a proposedscheme in accordance with the present disclosure. In scenario 600, foraggregated MRUs with a size greater than 996 tones (RU>996), the twobits B1 B0 are shown to be used to indicate various cross-boundary RUallocations. For instance, allocation of an aggregated MRU ofMRU(484+996) across the boundary between the first and the second 80-MHzsegments (and within the first 160-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth)may be indicated with B1 B0 being “01.” Additionally, allocation of anaggregated MRU of MRU(484+996) across the boundary between the third andthe fourth 80-MHz segments (and within the second 160-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth) may be indicated with B1 B0 being “11.” Moreover,allocation of an aggregated MRU of MRU(996+484+996) across the boundarybetween the second and the third 80-MHz segments may be indicated withB1 B0 being “10.” Furthermore, allocation of an aggregated MRU ofMRU(484+996+996+996) across the boundary between the second and thethird 80-MHz segments and the boundary between the third and the fourth80-MHz segments may be indicated with B1 B0 being “11.”

In scenario 600, for RUs and MRUs with a size equal to or less than 996tones (RU or MRU≤996), allocation of an aggregated MRU of MRU(242+484)in the first 80-MHz segment may be indicated with B1 B0 being “00.”Similarly, allocation of an aggregated MRU of MRU(242+484) in the fourth80-MHz segment may be indicated with B1 B0 being “11.”

FIG. 7 illustrates an example scenario 700 in accordance with a proposedscheme in accordance with the present disclosure. In scenario 700, theseven bits of B8˜B2 of the RU allocation subfield may be assigneddifferent values to indicate various RU allocations. Specifically, part(A) of FIG. 7 shows an example of allocation of regular RUs per 80-MHzsegment. For instance, as shown in part (A) of FIG. 7, B8˜B2 being“0111101”, corresponding to a decimal value of 61, may be used toindicate an RU242. Moreover, part (B) of FIG. 7 shows an example ofallocation of small MRUs per 80-MHz segment. For instance, as shown inpart (B) of FIG. 7, B8˜B2 being “1010001”, corresponding to a decimalvalue of 81, may be used to indicate an aggregated MRU of MRU(106+26).

FIG. 8 illustrates an example scenario 800 in accordance with a proposedscheme in accordance with the present disclosure. In scenario 800, theseven bits of B8˜B2 of the RU allocation subfield may be assigneddifferent values to indicate various MRU allocations per 80-MHz segment.Part (A) of FIG. 8 shows one option of assigning different values toB8˜B2 to indicate various allocations of an aggregated MRU ofMRU(242+484). For instance, B8˜B2 being “1010011”, corresponding to adecimal value of 83, may be used to indicate allocation of RU242 to asecond 20-MHz segment and allocation of RU484 to a third and a fourth20-MHz segments. Additionally, B8˜B2 being “1010100”, corresponding to adecimal value of 84, may be used to indicate allocation of RU242 to afirst 20-MHz segment and allocation of RU484 to the third and the fourth20-MHz segments. Moreover, B8˜B2 being “1010101”, corresponding to adecimal value of 85, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 to thefirst and the second 20-MHz segments and allocation of RU242 to thefourth 20-MHz segment. Furthermore, B8˜B2 being “1010110”, correspondingto a decimal value of 86, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 tothe first and the second 20-MHz segments and allocation of RU242 to thethird 20-MHz segment.

Part (B) of FIG. 8 shows an alternative option of assigning differentvalues to B8˜B2 to indicate various allocations of an aggregated MRU ofMRU(242+484) per 80-MHz frequency segment. For instance, B8˜B2 being“1010110”, corresponding to a decimal value of 86, may be used toindicate allocation of RU242 to a second 20-MHz segment and allocationof RU484 to a third and a fourth 20-MHz segments. Additionally, B8˜B2being “1010101”, corresponding to a decimal value of 85, may be used toindicate allocation of RU242 to a first 20-MHz segment and allocation ofRU484 to the third and the fourth 20-MHz segments. Moreover, B8˜B2 being“1010011”, corresponding to a decimal value of 84, may be used toindicate allocation of RU484 to the first and the second 20-MHz segmentsand allocation of RU242 to the fourth 20-MHz segment. Furthermore, B8˜B2being “1010011”, corresponding to a decimal value of 83, may be used toindicate allocation of RU484 to the first and the second 20-MHz segmentsand allocation of RU242 to the third 20-MHz segment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example scenario 900 in accordance with a proposedscheme in accordance with the present disclosure. In scenario 900, theseven bits of B8˜B2 of the RU allocation subfield may be assigneddifferent values to indicate various RU allocations. Part (A) of FIG. 9shows one option of assigning different values to B8˜B2 to indicatevarious allocations of an aggregated MRU of MRU(484+996) in a 160-MHzfrequency segment. For instance, B8˜B2 being “1010111”, corresponding toa decimal value of 87, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 tothe second half (or a third and a fourth 20-MHz segments) of a first80-MHz segment and allocation of RU996 to a second 80-MHz segment.Additionally, B8˜B2 being “1011000”, corresponding to a decimal value of88, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 to the first half (or afirst and a second 20-MHz segments) of the first 80-MHz segment andallocation of RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment. Moreover, B8˜B2 being“1011001”, corresponding to a decimal value of 89, may be used toindicate allocation of RU484 to the second half of the second 80-MHzsegment and allocation of RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment.Furthermore, B8˜B2 being “1011010”, corresponding to a decimal value of90, may be used to indicate allocation of RU996 to the first 80-MHzsegment and allocation of RU484 to the first half of the second 80-MHzsegment.

Part (B) of FIG. 9 shows one option of assigning different values toB8˜B2 to indicate various allocations of an aggregated MRU ofMRU(242+484+996). For instance, B8˜B2 being “1011011”, corresponding toa decimal value of 91, may be used to indicate allocation of RU242 to asecond 20-MHz segment of a first 80-MHz segment, allocation of RU484 toa third and a fourth 20-MHz segments of the first 80-MHz segment, andallocation of RU996 to a second 80-MHz segment. Additionally, B8˜B2being “1011100”, corresponding to a decimal value of 92, may be used toindicate allocation of RU242 to a first 20-MHz segment of the first80-MHz segment, allocation of RU484 to the third and the fourth 20-MHzsegments of the first 80-MHz segment, and allocation of RU996 to thesecond 80-MHz segment. Moreover, B8˜B2 being “1011101”, corresponding toa decimal value of 93, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 tothe first and the second 20-MHz segments of the first 80-MHz segment,allocation of RU242 to the fourth 20-MHz segments of the first 80-MHzsegment, and allocation of RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment.Furthermore, B8˜B2 being “1011110”, corresponding to a decimal value of94, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 to the first and thesecond 20-MHz segments of the first 80-MHz segment, allocation of RU242to the third 20-MHz segments of the first 80-MHz segment, and allocationof RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment. Similarly, B8˜B2 being “1011111”,corresponding to a decimal value of 95, may be used to indicateallocation of RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment, allocation of RU242 tothe second 20-MHz segments of the second 80-MHz segment, and allocationof RU484 to the third and the fourth 20-MHz segments of the second80-MHz segment. Additionally, B8˜B2 being “1100000”, corresponding to adecimal value of 96, may be used to indicate allocation of RU996 to thefirst 80-MHz segment, allocation of RU242 to the first 20-MHz segmentsof the second 80-MHz segment, and allocation of RU484 to the third andthe fourth 20-MHz segments of the second 80-MHz segment. Moreover, B8˜B2being “1100001”, corresponding to a decimal value of 97, may be used toindicate allocation of RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment, allocation ofRU484 to the first and the second 20-MHz segments of the second 80-MHzsegment, and allocation of RU242 to the fourth 20-MHz segments of thesecond 80-MHz segment. Furthermore, B8˜B2 being “1100010”, correspondingto a decimal value of 98, may be used to indicate allocation of RU996 tothe first 80-MHz segment, allocation of RU484 to the first and thesecond 20-MHz segments of the second 80-MHz segment, and allocation ofRU242 to the third 20-MHz segments of the second 80-MHz segment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example scenario 1000 in accordance with aproposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure. In scenario1000, the seven bits of B8˜B2 of the RU allocation subfield may beassigned different values to indicate various RU allocations. Part (A)of FIG. 10 shows one option of assigning different values to B8˜B2 toindicate various allocations of an aggregated MRU of RU(2×996) in a240-MHz frequency segment. For instance, B8˜B2 being “1000101”,corresponding to a decimal value of 69, may be used to indicateallocation of one RU996 to a first 80-MHz segment and allocation ofanother RU996 to a second 80-MHz segment. Additionally, B8˜B2 being“1100011”, corresponding to a decimal value of 99, may be used toindicate allocation of one RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment andallocation of another RU996 to a third 80-MHz segment. Moreover, B8˜B2being “1100100”, corresponding to a decimal value of 100, may be used toindicate allocation of one RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment andallocation of another RU996 to the third 80-MHz segment.

Part (B) of FIG. 10 shows one option of assigning different values toB8˜B2 to indicate various allocations of an aggregated MRU ofMRU(484+2×996) in a 240-MHz frequency segment. For instance, B8˜B2 being“1100101”, corresponding to a decimal value of 101, may be used toindicate allocation of RU484 to a third and a fourth 20-MHz segments ofa first 80-MHz segment, allocation of one RU996 to a second 80-MHzsegment, and allocation of another RU996 to a third 80-MHz segment.Also, B8˜B2 being “1100110”, corresponding to a decimal value of 102,may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 to a first and a second20-MHz segments of the first 80-MHz segment, allocation of one RU996 tothe second 80-MHz segment, and allocation of another RU996 to the third80-MHz segment. Moreover, B8˜B2 being “1100111”, corresponding to adecimal value of 103, may be used to indicate allocation of one RU996 tothe first 80-MHz segment, allocation of RU484 to a third and a fourth20-MHz segments of the second 80-MHz segment, and allocation of anotherRU996 to the third 80-MHz segment. Additionally, B8˜B2 being “1101000”,corresponding to a decimal value of 104, may be used to indicateallocation of one RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment, allocation of RU484to a first and a second 20-MHz segments of the second 80-MHz segment,and allocation of another RU996 to the third 80-MHz segment. Moreover,B8˜B2 being “1101001”, corresponding to a decimal value of 105, may beused to indicate allocation of one RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment,allocation of another RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment, and allocationof RU484 to a third and a fourth 20-MHz segments of the third 80-MHzsegment. Furthermore, B8˜B2 being “1101010”, corresponding to a decimalvalue of 106, may be used to indicate allocation of one RU996 to thefirst 80-MHz segment, allocation of another RU996 to the second 80-MHzsegment, and allocation of RU484 to a first and a second 20-MHz segmentsof the third 80-MHz segment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example scenario 1100 in accordance with aproposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure. In scenario1100, the seven bits of B8˜B2 of the RU allocation subfield may beassigned different values to indicate various RU allocations. Part (A)of FIG. 11 shows one option of assigning different values to B8˜B2 toindicate various allocations of an aggregated MRU of MRU(3×996) in a320-MHz bandwidth. For instance, B8˜B2 being “1101011”, corresponding toa decimal value of 107, may be used to indicate allocation of a firstRU996 to a first 80-MHz segment, allocation of a second RU996 to asecond 80-MHz segment, and allocation of a third RU996 to a third 80-MHzsegment. Additionally, B8˜B2 being “1101100”, corresponding to a decimalvalue of 108, may be used to indicate allocation of the first RU996 tothe first 80-MHz segment, allocation of the second RU996 to the second80-MHz segment, and allocation of the third RU996 to a fourth 80-MHzsegment. Moreover, B8˜B2 being “1101101”, corresponding to a decimalvalue of 109, may be used to indicate allocation of the first RU996 tothe first 80-MHz segment, allocation of the second RU996 to the third80-MHz segment, and allocation of the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHzsegment. Furthermore, B8˜B2 being “1101110”, corresponding to a decimalvalue of 110, may be used to indicate allocation of the first RU996 tothe second 80-MHz segment, allocation of the second RU996 to the third80-MHz segment, and allocation of the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHzsegment.

Part (B) of FIG. 11 shows one option of assigning different values toB8˜B2 to indicate various allocations of an aggregated MRU ofMRU(484+3×996) in a 320-MHz bandwidth. For instance, B8˜B2 being“1101111”, corresponding to a decimal value of 111, may be used toindicate allocation of a first RU996 to a first 80-MHz segment,allocation of a second RU996 to a second 80-MHz segment, allocation of athird RU996 to a third 80-MHz segment, and allocation of RU484 to thefirst half of a fourth 80-MHz segment. Additionally, B8˜B2 being“1110000”, corresponding to a decimal value of 112, may be used toindicate allocation of the first RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment,allocation of the second RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment, allocationof the third RU996 to the third 80-MHz segment, and allocation of RU484to the second half of the fourth 80-MHz segment. Moreover, B8˜B2 being“1110001”, corresponding to a decimal value of 113, may be used toindicate allocation of the first RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment,allocation of the second RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment, allocationof RU484 to the first half of the third 80-MHz segment, and allocationof the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHz segment. Furthermore, B8˜B2being “1110010”, corresponding to a decimal value of 114, may be used toindicate allocation of the first RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment,allocation of the second RU996 to the second 80-MHz segment, allocationof RU484 to the second half of the third 80-MHz segment, and allocationof the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHz segment. Also, B8˜B2 being“1110011”, corresponding to a decimal value of 115, may be used toindicate allocation of the first RU996 to the first 80-MHz segment,allocation of RU484 to the first half of the second 80-MHz segment,allocation of the second RU996 to the third 80-MHz segment, andallocation of the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHz segment.Additionally, B8˜B2 being “1110100”, corresponding to a decimal value of116, may be used to indicate allocation of the first RU996 to the first80-MHz segment, allocation of RU484 to the second half of the second80-MHz segment, allocation of the second RU996 to the third 80-MHzsegment, and allocation of the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHz segment.Moreover, B8˜B2 being “1110101”, corresponding to a decimal value of117, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 to the first half ofthe first 80-MHz segment, allocation of the first RU996 to the second80-MHz segment, allocation of the second RU996 to the third 80-MHzsegment, and allocation of the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHz segment.Furthermore, B8˜B2 being “1110110”, corresponding to a decimal value of118, may be used to indicate allocation of RU484 to the second half ofthe first 80-MHz segment, allocation of the first RU996 to the second80-MHz segment, allocation of the second RU996 to the third 80-MHzsegment, and allocation of the third RU996 to the fourth 80-MHz segment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example scenario 1200 of trigger-based RUallocation signaling in accordance with a proposed scheme in accordancewith the present disclosure. Part (A) of FIG. 12 shows an example ofallocations of different RUs and aggregated MRUs in different 80-MHzsegments to different users under the proposed scheme. Referring to part(A) of FIG. 12, an aggregated MRU of MRU(484+996) may be assigned orallocated to a first user (user 1), with the RU484 in a first 80-MHzsegment and the RU996 in a second 80-MHz segment. Also, an RU242 may beassigned or allocated to a second user (user 2), with the RU242 in thefirst 80-MHz segment. Additionally, an aggregated MRU of MRU(242+484)may be assigned or allocated to a third user (user 3), with the RU242and RU484 in a third 80-MHz segment. Moreover, another aggregated MRU orMRU(242+484) may be assigned or allocated to a fourth user (user 4),with the RU242 and RU484 in a fourth 80-MHz segment. Furthermore,another RU242 may be assigned or allocated to a fifth user (user 5),with the RU242 in the fourth 80-MHz segment.

Part (B) of FIG. 12 shows an example of indication of user informationin the RU allocation field under the proposed scheme. For instance, theseven bits B8˜B2 and the two bits B1 B0 of the RU allocation subfieldmay be [1011000 01] for user 1 of part (A) of FIG. 12, in that a decimalvalue of 88 of B8˜B2 corresponds to entry 88 in the RU allocation tableof design 400 for MRU(484+996) allocated across the boundary between afirst 80-MHz segment and a second 80-MHz segment of a 320-MHz bandwidthaccording to a decimal value of 1 of B1 B0. Also, the seven bits B8˜B2and the two bits B1B0 of the RU allocation subfield may be [1000000 00]for user 2 of part (A) of FIG. 12, in that a decimal value of 64 ofB8˜B2 corresponds to entry 64 in the RU allocation table of design 400for RU(242) allocated in the first 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHzbandwidth according to a decimal value of 0 of B1 B0. Additionally, theseven bits B8˜B2 and the two bits B1 B0 of the RU allocation subfieldmay be [1010011 10] for user 3 of part (A) of FIG. 12, in that a decimalvalue of 83 of B8˜B2 corresponds to entry 83 in the RU allocation tableof design 400 for MRU(242+484) allocated in the third 80-MHz segment ofthe 320-MHz bandwidth according to a decimal value of 2 of B1 B0.Moreover, the seven bits B8˜B2 and the two bits B1 B0 of the RUallocation subfield may be [1010100 11] for user 4 of part (A) of FIG.12, in that a decimal value of 84 of B8˜B2 corresponds to entry 84 inthe RU allocation table of design 400 for MRU(242+484) allocated in thefourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth according to a decimalvalue of 3 of B1 B0. Furthermore, the seven bits B8˜B2 and the two bitsB1 B0 of the RU allocation subfield may be [0111110 11] for user 5 ofpart (A) of FIG. 12, in that a decimal value of 62 of B8˜B2 correspondsto entry 62 in the RU allocation table of design 400 for RU(242)allocated in the fourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidthaccording to a decimal value of 3 of B1B0.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example scenario 1300 of self-contained RUallocation signaling for DL EHT-SIG signaling in accordance with aproposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure. Under theproposed scheme, similar to UL trigger frame signaling, self-containedtype signaling may also be used for DL EHT PPDUs. For instance, eachuser-specific subfield (or user information field) may contain its ownRU allocation information, which may be indicated by using the RUallocation subfield in ways described herein. Referring to FIG. 13, theseven bits B8˜B2 may be used to indicate an RU index within a respective80-MHz segment of a given bandwidth, and the two bits B1 B0 may be usedto indicate or otherwise identify the respective 80-MHz segment of thegiven bandwidth in which RU allocation is located.

FIG. 14 illustrates an alternative example design 1400 in accordancewith a proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure.Specifically, in the RU allocation table of design 1400, RU index may belabeled by grouping RUs/MRUs based on whether the allocation is within asingle 80-MHz segment or across multiple 80-MHz segments. Referring toFIG. 14, entries in the upper portion of design 1400 may correspond toRUs/MRUs that are within a single 80-MHz segment. Moreover, entries inthe lower portion of design 1400 may correspond to RUs/MRUs that areallocated in more than one 80-MHz segment and spanning across at leastone boundary between two adjacent 80-MHz segments.

FIG. 15 illustrates still another alternative example design 1500 inaccordance with a proposed scheme in accordance with the presentdisclosure. Specifically, in the RU allocation table of design 1500, RUindex may be labeled by grouping RUs/MRUs according to the respectiveRU/MRU size. Referring to FIG. 15, entries in the upper portion ofdesign 1500 may correspond to RUs/MRUs that are within a single 80-MHzsegment. Moreover, entries in the lower portion of design 1500 maycorrespond to RUs/MRUs that are allocated in more than one 80-MHzsegment and spanning across at least one boundary between two adjacent80-MHz segments.

FIG. 16 illustrates yet another alternative example design 1600 inaccordance with a proposed scheme in accordance with the presentdisclosure. In the RU allocation table of design 1600, the seven bitsB8˜B2 of the 9-bit RU allocation subfield may be arranged with differentstructured styles. In design 1600, for the MRU of MRU(3×996), twoaggregations with the contiguous 3×996 may use the same value of B8˜B2but different values of B1 B0.

Illustrative Implementations

FIG. 17 illustrates an example system 1700 having at least an exampleapparatus 1710 and an example apparatus 1720 in accordance with animplementation of the present disclosure. Each of apparatus 1710 andapparatus 1720 may perform various functions to implement schemes,techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to RUallocation subfield designs for trigger-based and self-containedsignaling in EHT systems, including the various schemes described abovewith respect to various proposed designs, concepts, schemes, systems andmethods described above as well as processes described below. Forinstance, apparatus 1710 may be implemented in STA 110 and apparatus1720 may be implemented in STA 120, or vice versa.

Each of apparatus 1710 and apparatus 1720 may be a part of an electronicapparatus, which may be a STA or an AP, such as a portable or mobileapparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or acomputing apparatus. When implemented in a STA, each of apparatus 1710and apparatus 1720 may be implemented in a smartphone, a smart watch, apersonal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipmentsuch as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer.Each of apparatus 1710 and apparatus 1720 may also be a part of amachine type apparatus, which may be an IoT apparatus such as animmobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, a wirecommunication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, each ofapparatus 1710 and apparatus 1720 may be implemented in a smartthermostat, a smart fridge, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker or ahome control center. When implemented in or as a network apparatus,apparatus 1710 and/or apparatus 1720 may be implemented in a networknode, such as an AP in a WLAN.

In some implementations, each of apparatus 1710 and apparatus 1720 maybe implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chipssuch as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-coreprocessors, one or more multi-core processors, one or morereduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or morecomplex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. In the variousschemes described above, each of apparatus 1710 and apparatus 1720 maybe implemented in or as a STA or an AP. Each of apparatus 1710 andapparatus 1720 may include at least some of those components shown inFIG. 17 such as a processor 1712 and a processor 1722, respectively, forexample. Each of apparatus 1710 and apparatus 1720 may further includeone or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of thepresent disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/oruser interface device), and, thus, such component(s) of apparatus 1710and apparatus 1720 are neither shown in FIG. 17 nor described below inthe interest of simplicity and brevity.

In one aspect, each of processor 1712 and processor 1722 may beimplemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one ormore multi-core processors, one or more RISC processors or one or moreCISC processors. That is, even though a singular term “a processor” isused herein to refer to processor 1712 and processor 1722, each ofprocessor 1712 and processor 1722 may include multiple processors insome implementations and a single processor in other implementations inaccordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, each ofprocessor 1712 and processor 1722 may be implemented in the form ofhardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic componentsincluding, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors,one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, oneor more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactorsthat are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes inaccordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least someimplementations, each of processor 1712 and processor 1722 is aspecial-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configuredto perform specific tasks including those pertaining to RU allocationsubfield designs for trigger-based and self-contained signaling in EHTsystems in accordance with various implementations of the presentdisclosure.

In some implementations, apparatus 1710 may also include a transceiver1716 coupled to processor 1712. Transceiver 1716 may include atransmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting and a receiver capable ofwirelessly receiving data. In some implementations, apparatus 1720 mayalso include a transceiver 1726 coupled to processor 1722. Transceiver1726 may include a transmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting and areceiver capable of wirelessly receiving data. It is noteworthy that,although transceiver 1716 and transceiver 1726 are illustrated as beingexternal to and separate from processor 1712 and processor 1722,respectively, in some implementations, transceiver 1716 may be anintegral part of processor 1712 as a system on chip (SoC) and/ortransceiver 1726 may be an integral part of processor 1722 as a SoC.

In some implementations, apparatus 1710 may further include a memory1714 coupled to processor 1712 and capable of being accessed byprocessor 1712 and storing data therein. In some implementations,apparatus 1720 may further include a memory 1724 coupled to processor1722 and capable of being accessed by processor 1722 and storing datatherein. Each of memory 1714 and memory 1724 may include a type ofrandom-access memory (RAM) such as dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM(SRAM), thyristor RAM (T-RAM) and/or zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM).Alternatively, or additionally, each of memory 1714 and memory 1724 mayinclude a type of read-only memory (ROM) such as mask ROM, programmableROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM) and/or electricallyerasable programmable ROM (EEPROM). Alternatively, or additionally, eachof memory 1714 and memory 1724 may include a type of non-volatilerandom-access memory (NVRAM) such as flash memory, solid-state memory,ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) and/orphase-change memory.

Each of apparatus 1710 and apparatus 1720 may be a communication entitycapable of communicating with each other using various proposed schemesin accordance with the present disclosure. For illustrative purposes andwithout limitation, a description of capabilities of apparatus 1710, asSTA 110, and apparatus 1720, as STA 120, is provided below. It isnoteworthy that, although a detailed description of capabilities,functionalities and/or technical features of apparatus 1710 is providedbelow, the same may be applied to apparatus 1720 although a detaileddescription thereof is not provided solely in the interest of brevity.It is also noteworthy that, although the example implementationsdescribed below are provided in the context of WLAN, the same may beimplemented in other types of networks.

Under a proposed scheme pertaining to RU allocation subfield designs fortrigger-based and self-contained signaling in EHT systems in accordancewith the present disclosure, with apparatus 1710 implemented in or asSTA 110 and apparatus 1720 implemented in or as STA 120 in networkenvironment 100, processor 1712 of apparatus 1710 may receive, viatransceiver 1716, a signaling (e.g., from apparatus 1720 as STA 120).Additionally, processor 1712 may determining allocation of one or moreRUs according to a 9-bit RU allocation subfield indicated in thesignaling. Moreover, processor 1712 may perform, via transceiver 1716,wireless communications using the one or more RUs.

In some implementations, in receiving the signaling, processor 1712 mayreceive a trigger frame. Moreover, in performing the wirelesscommunications, processor 1712 may perform an UL transmission using theone or more RUs responsive to receiving the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in determining allocation of the one or moreRUs according to the 9-bit RU allocation subfield, processor 1712 maydetermine allocation of the one or more RUs in a bandwidth up to a320-MHz bandwidth according to the 9-bit RU allocation subfield in an RUallocation table which indicates single RUs of different sizes and aplurality of aggregations of multiple RUs. Alternatively, one of the twoleast significant bits (e.g., B1) may be used to indicate which of two80-MHz segments the RU/MRU is allocated in a 160-MHz bandwidth/segment,and the other one of the two least significant bits (e.g., B0) may beused to indicate which of two 160-MHz segments the RU/MRU is allocatedin a 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, the RU allocation table may include a firstplurality of entries and a second plurality of entries. For instance,the first plurality of entries may correspond to RU allocation asdefined in the IEEE 802.11ax specification, and the second plurality ofentries may correspond to RU allocation as defined in the IEEE 802.11 bespecification.

In some implementations, two least significant bits of the 9-bit RUallocation subfield may indicate in which one or more of up to four80-MHz segments of a bandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth the one or moreRUs are allocated. In such cases, in an event that a total size of theone or more RUs is equal to or less than 996 tones: (a) a decimal valueof 0 of the two least significant bits may indicate allocation of theone or more RUs in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or in a first 80-MHzsegment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth, (b) a decimal value of 1 of thetwo least significant bits may indicate allocation of the one or moreRUs in a second 80-MHz segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth, (c) adecimal value of 2 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs in a third 80-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth, and (d) a decimal value of 3 of the two leastsignificant bits may indicate allocation of the one or more RUs in afourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth. Moreover, in an eventthat a total size of the one or more RUs is greater than 996 tones: (e)a decimal value of 1 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a first80-MHz segment and a second 80-MHz segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidthand within a first 160-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, (f) adecimal value of 2 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a second80-MHz segment and a third 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth andwithin a first 240-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, and (g) adecimal value of 3 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a third80-MHz segment and a fourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, seven most significant bits of the 9-bit RUallocation subfield may indicate a size and indexing of the one or moreRUs in an RU allocation table. In such cases: (a) a decimal value in arange of 0˜68 of the seven most significant bits may indicate an entryin the RU allocation table corresponding to a single RU per 80-MHzfrequency segment, (b) a decimal value of 68 of the seven mostsignificant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to two contiguous RUs each of a size of 996 tones in a160-MHz bandwidth, or in a 160-MHz frequency segment of the 320-MHzbandwidth, (c) a decimal value of 119 of the seven most significant bitsmay indicate an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to asingle RU with four contiguous RUs each of a size of 996 tones, (d) adecimal value in a range of 69˜118 of the seven most significant bitsmay indicate an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to anaggregation of multiple RUs, (e) a decimal value in a range of 69˜74 ofthe seven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RUallocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones(RU26) and one RU of 52 tones (RU52) in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or ina 80-MHz frequency segment, (f) a decimal value in a range of 75˜82 ofthe seven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RUallocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones(RU26) and one RU of 106 tones (RU106) in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, orin a 80-MHz frequency segment, (g) a decimal value in a range of 83˜86of the seven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RUallocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones(RU242) and one RU of 484 tones (RU484) in the 80-MHzbandwidth or in a80-MHz frequency segment, (h) a decimal value in a range of 87˜90 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) andone RU of 996 tones (RU996) in the 160-MHz bandwidth or in a 160-MHzfrequency segment, (i) a decimal value in a range of 91˜98 of the sevenmost significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones (RU242), one RUof 484 tones (RU484) and one RU of 996 tones (RU996) in the 160-MHzbandwidth or in a 160-MHz frequency segment, (j) a decimal value in arange of 99˜100 of the seven most significant bits may indicate an entryin the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of two RUseach of 996 tones (2×RU996) in a 240-MHz frequency segment, (k) adecimal value in a range of 101˜106 of the seven most significant bitsmay indicate an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to anaggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and two RUs each of 996 tones(2×RU996) in a 240-MHz frequency segment, (I) a decimal value in a rangeof 107˜110 of the seven most significant bits may indicate an entry inthe RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of three RUseach of 996 tones (3×RU996) in the 320-MHz bandwidth, and (m) a decimalvalue in a range of 111˜118 of the seven most significant bits mayindicate an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to anaggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and three RUs each of 996tones (3×RU996) in the 320-MHz bandwidth.

Illustrative Processes

FIG. 18 illustrates an example process 1800 in accordance with animplementation of the present disclosure. Process 1800 may represent anaspect of implementing various proposed designs, concepts, schemes,systems and methods described above. More specifically, process 1800 mayrepresent an aspect of the proposed concepts and schemes pertaining toRU allocation subfield designs for trigger-based and self-containedsignaling in EHT systems in accordance with the present disclosure.Process 1800 may include one or more operations, actions, or functionsas illustrated by one or more of blocks 1810, 1820 and 1830. Althoughillustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 1800 may bedivided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, oreliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, theblocks/sub-blocks of process 1800 may be executed in the order shown inFIG. 18 or, alternatively in a different order. Furthermore, one or moreof the blocks/sub-blocks of process 1800 may be executed repeatedly oriteratively. Process 1800 may be implemented by or in apparatus 1710 andapparatus 1720 as well as any variations thereof. Solely forillustrative purposes and without limiting the scope, process 1800 isdescribed below in the context of apparatus 1710 implemented in or asSTA 110 and apparatus 1720 implemented in or as STA 120 of a wirelessnetwork such as a WLAN in network environment 180 in accordance with oneor more of IEEE 802.11 standards. Process 1800 may begin at block 1810.

At 1810, process 1800 may involve processor 1712 of apparatus 1710(e.g., STA 110) receiving, via transceiver 1716, a signaling (e.g., fromapparatus 1720 as STA 120). Process 1800 may proceed from 1810 to 1820.

At 1820, process 1800 may involve processor 1712 determining allocationof one or more RUs according to a 9-bit RU allocation subfield indicatedin the signaling. Process 1800 may proceed from 1820 to 1830.

At 1830, process 1800 may involve processor 1712 performing, viatransceiver 1716, wireless communications using the one or more RUs.

In some implementations, in receiving the signaling, process 1800 mayinvolve processor 1712 receiving a trigger frame. Moreover, inperforming the wireless communications, process 1800 may involveprocessor 1712 performing an UL transmission using the one or more RUsresponsive to receiving the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in determining allocation of the one or moreRUs according to the 9-bit RU allocation subfield, process 1800 mayinvolve processor 1712 determining allocation of the one or more RUs ina bandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth (e.g., which could be a 20-MHzbandwidth, a 40-MHz bandwidth, a 80-MHz bandwidth, a 160-MHz bandwidthor a 320-MHz bandwidth) according to the 9-bit RU allocation subfield inan RU allocation table which indicates single RUs of different sizes anda plurality of aggregations of multiple RUs.

In some implementations, the RU allocation table may include a firstplurality of entries and a second plurality of entries. For instance,the first plurality of entries may correspond to RU allocation asdefined in the IEEE 802.11ax specification, and the second plurality ofentries may correspond to RU allocation as defined in the IEEE 802.11bespecification.

In some implementations, two least significant bits of the 9-bit RUallocation subfield may indicate in which one or more of up to four80-MHz segments of a bandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth the one or moreRUs are allocated. Alternatively, one of the two least significant bits(e.g., B1) may be used to indicate which of two 80-MHz segments theRU/MRU is allocated in a 160-MHz bandwidth/segment, and the other one ofthe two least significant bits (e.g., B0) may be used to indicate whichof two 160-MHz segments the RU/MRU is allocated in a 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, in an event that a total size of the one ormore RUs is equal to or less than 996 tones: (a) a decimal value of 0 ofthe two least significant bits may indicate allocation of the one ormore RUs in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or in a first 80-MHz segment ofthe 160/320-MHz bandwidth, (b) a decimal value of 1 of the two leastsignificant bits may indicate allocation of the one or more RUs in asecond 80-MHz segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth, (c) a decimal valueof 2 of the two least significant bits may indicate allocation of theone or more RUs in a third 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, and(d) a decimal value of 3 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs in a fourth 80-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, in an event that a total size of the one ormore RUs is greater than 996 tones: (e) a decimal value of 1 of the twoleast significant bits may indicate allocation of the one or more RUsacross a boundary between a first 80-MHz segment and a second 80-MHzsegment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth and within a first 160-MHz segmentof the 320-MHz bandwidth, (f) a decimal value of 2 of the two leastsignificant bits may indicate allocation of the one or more RUs across aboundary between a second 80-MHz segment and a third 80-MHz segment ofthe 320-MHz bandwidth and within a first 240-MHz segment of the 320-MHzbandwidth, and (g) a decimal value of 3 of the two least significantbits may indicate allocation of the one or more RUs across a boundarybetween a third 80-MHz segment and a fourth 80-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, seven most significant bits of the 9-bit RUallocation subfield may indicate a size and indexing of the one or moreRUs in an RU allocation table.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 0˜68 of the sevenmost significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to a single RU in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth or in a 80-MHzsegment of a 160/320-MHz bandwidth, and a decimal value of 68 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to two contiguous RUs each of a size of 996 tones inthe 160-MHz bandwidth or in a 160-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value of 119 of the seven mostsignificant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to a single RU, corresponding to four contiguous RUs eachof a size of 996 tones in the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 69˜118 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of multiple RUs.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 69˜74 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones (RU26) andone RU of 52 tones (RU52) in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or in a 80-MHzfrequency segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 75˜82 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones (RU26) andone RU of 106 tones (RU52) in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or in a 80-MHzfrequency segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 83˜86 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones (RU242) andone RU of 484 tones (RU484) in 80 MHz bandwidth, or in a 80 MHzfrequency segment of the 160/320 MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 87˜90 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) andone RU of 996 tones (RU996) in a 160-MHz bandwidth, or in a 160-MHzfrequency segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 91˜98 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones (RU242),one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and one RU of 996 tones (RU996) in a 160-MHzbandwidth, or in a 160-MHz frequency segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 99˜100 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of two RUs each of 996 tones(2×RU996) in a 240-MHz frequency segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 101˜106 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) andtwo RUs each of 996 tones (2×RU996) in a 240-MHz frequency segment ofthe 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 107˜110 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of three RUs each of 996 tones(3×RU996) in the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, a decimal value in a range of 111˜118 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) andthree RUs each of 996 tones (3×RU996) in the 320-MHz bandwidth.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example process 1900 in accordance with animplementation of the present disclosure. Process 1900 may represent anaspect of implementing various proposed designs, concepts, schemes,systems and methods described above. More specifically, process 1900 mayrepresent an aspect of the proposed concepts and schemes pertaining toRU allocation subfield designs for trigger-based and self-containedsignaling in EHT systems in accordance with the present disclosure.Process 1900 may include one or more operations, actions, or functionsas illustrated by one or more of blocks 1910, 1920 and 1930. Althoughillustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 1900 may bedivided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, oreliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, theblocks/sub-blocks of process 1900 may be executed in the order shown inFIG. 19 or, alternatively in a different order. Furthermore, one or moreof the blocks/sub-blocks of process 1900 may be executed repeatedly oriteratively. Process 1900 may be implemented by or in apparatus 1710 andapparatus 1720 as well as any variations thereof. Solely forillustrative purposes and without limiting the scope, process 1900 isdescribed below in the context of apparatus 1710 implemented in or asSTA 110 and apparatus 1720 implemented in or as STA 120 of a wirelessnetwork such as a WLAN in network environment 190 in accordance with oneor more of IEEE 802.11 standards. Process 1900 may begin at block 1910.

At 1910, process 1900 may involve processor 1712 of apparatus 1710(e.g., STA 110) receiving, via transceiver 1716, a trigger frameindicating a 9-bit RU allocation subfield (e.g., from apparatus 1720 asSTA 120). Process 1900 may proceed from 1910 to 1920.

At 1920, process 1900 may involve processor 1712 determining allocationof one or more RUs in a bandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth (e.g., whichcould be a 20-MHz bandwidth, a 40-MHz bandwidth, a 80-MHz bandwidth, a160-MHz bandwidth or a 320-MHz bandwidth) according to the 9-bit RUallocation subfield in an RU allocation table which indicates single RUsof different sizes and a plurality of aggregations of multiple RUs.Process 1900 may proceed from 1920 to 1930.

At 1930, process 1900 may involve processor 1712 performing, viatransceiver 1716, an UL transmission using the one or more RUsresponsive to receiving the trigger frame.

In some implementations, two least significant bits of the 9-bit RUallocation subfield may indicate in which one or more of up to four80-MHz segments of a bandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth the one or moreRUs are allocated. In such cases, in an event that a total size of theone or more RUs is equal to or less than 996 tones: (a) a decimal valueof 0 of the two least significant bits may indicate allocation of theone or more RUs in the 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or in a first 80-MHzsegment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth, (b) a decimal value of 1 of thetwo least significant bits may indicate allocation of the one or moreRUs in a second 80-MHz segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth, (c) adecimal value of 2 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs in a third 80-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth, and (d) a decimal value of 3 of the two leastsignificant bits may indicate allocation of the one or more RUs in afourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth. Moreover, in an eventthat a total size of the one or more RUs is greater than 996 tones: (e)a decimal value of 1 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a first80-MHz segment and a second 80-MHz segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidthand within a first 160-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, (f) adecimal value of 2 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a second80-MHz segment and a third 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth andwithin a first 240-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, and (g) adecimal value of 3 of the two least significant bits may indicateallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a third80-MHz segment and a fourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.

In some implementations, seven most significant bits of the 9-bit RUallocation subfield may indicate a size and indexing of the one or moreRUs in an RU allocation table. In such cases: (a) a decimal value in arange of 0˜68 of the seven most significant bits may indicate an entryin the RU allocation table corresponding to a single RU in a20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or in a 80-MHz frequency segment of the160/320-MHz bandwidth, (b) a decimal value of 68 of the seven mostsignificant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to two contiguous RUs each of a size of 996 tones in a160-MHz bandwidth, or in a 160-MHz frequency segment of the 320-MHzbandwidth, (c) a decimal value of 119 of the seven most significant bitsmay indicate an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to asingle RU with four contiguous RUs each of a size of 996 tones in the320-MHz bandwidth, (d) a decimal value in a range of 69˜118 of the sevenmost significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of multiple RUs, (e) a decimal value ina range of 69˜74 of the seven most significant bits may indicate anentry in the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of oneRU of 26 tones (RU26) and one RU of 52 tones (RU52) in a 20/40/80-MHzbandwidth, or in a 80-MHz frequency segment of the 160/320-MHzbandwidth, (f) a decimal value in a range of 75˜82 of the seven mostsignificant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones (RU26) and one RUof 106 tones (RU106) in a 20/40/80-MHz bandwidth, or in a 80-MHzfrequency segment of the 160/320-MHz bandwidth, (g) a decimal value in arange of 83˜86 of the seven most significant bits may indicate an entryin the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of242 tones (RU242) and one RU of 484 tones (RU484) in the 80-MHzbandwidth, or in a 80-MHz frequency segment of the 160/320-MHzbandwidth, (h) a decimal value in a range of 87˜90 of the seven mostsignificant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and oneRU of 996 tones (RU996) in the 160-MHz bandwidth, or in a 160-MHzfrequency segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, (i) a decimal value in arange of 91˜98 of the seven most significant bits may indicate an entryin the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of242 tones (RU242), one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and one RU of 996 tones(RU996) in the 160-MHz bandwidth, or in a 160-MHz frequency segment ofthe 320-MHz bandwidth, (j) a decimal value in a range of 99˜100 of theseven most significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of two RUs each of 996 tones(2×RU996) in a 240-MHz frequency segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, (k) adecimal value in a range of 101˜106 of the seven most significant bitsmay indicate an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to anaggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and two RUs each of 996 tones(2×RU996) in a 240-MHz frequency segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, (I) adecimal value in a range of 107˜110 of the seven most significant bitsmay indicate an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to anaggregation of three RUs each of 996 tones (3×RU996) in the 320-MHzbandwidth, and (m) a decimal value in a range of 111˜118 of the sevenmost significant bits may indicate an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and threeRUs each of 996 tones (3×RU996) in the 320-MHz bandwidth.

Additional Notes

The herein-described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

Further, with respect to the use of substantially any plural and/orsingular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate fromthe plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

Moreover, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that, ingeneral, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims, e.g.,bodies of the appended claims, are generally intended as “open” terms,e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but notlimited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having atleast,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but isnot limited to,” etc. It will be further understood by those within theart that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation isintended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and inthe absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example,as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may containusage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” tointroduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should notbe construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by theindefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containingsuch introduced claim recitation to implementations containing only onesuch recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductoryphrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as“a” or “an,” e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more;” the same holds true for the use of definitearticles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited,those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should beinterpreted to mean at least the recited number, e.g., the barerecitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at leasttwo recitations, or two or more recitations. Furthermore, in thoseinstances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C,etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the senseone having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “asystem having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not belimited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether, etc. In those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” wouldinclude but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc. It will be further understood by those withinthe art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting twoor more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, ordrawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities ofincluding one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. Forexample, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include thepossibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various implementationsof the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes ofillustration, and that various modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.Accordingly, the various implementations disclosed herein are notintended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicatedby the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving a signaling;determining allocation of one or more resource units (RUs) according toa 9-bit RU allocation subfield indicated in the signaling; andperforming wireless communications using the one or more RUs.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the signaling comprisesreceiving a trigger frame, and wherein the performing of the wirelesscommunications comprises performing an uplink (UL) transmission usingthe one or more RUs responsive to receiving the trigger frame.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining of allocation of the one ormore RUs according to the 9-bit RU allocation subfield comprisesdetermining allocation of the one or more RUs in a 20/40/80/160/320-MHzbandwidth according to the 9-bit RU allocation subfield in an RUallocation table which indicates single RUs of different sizes and aplurality of aggregations of multiple RUs.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the RU allocation table comprises a first plurality of entriesand a second plurality of entries, wherein the first plurality ofentries correspond to RU allocation as defined in an Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax specification, andwherein the second plurality of entries correspond to RU or multiple-RU(MRU) allocation as defined in an IEEE 802.11be specification.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein one of two least significant bits of the9-bit RU allocation subfield indicates which of two 80-MHz segments theone or more RUs are allocated in a 160-MHz bandwidth or segment, andwherein another one of the two least significant bits of the 9-bit RUallocation subfield indicates which of two 160-MHz segments the one ormore RUs are allocated in a 320-MHz bandwidth.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein two least significant bits of the 9-bit RU allocation subfieldindicate in which one or more of up to four 80-MHz segments of abandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth the one or more RUs are allocated.7. The method of claim 6, wherein, in an event that a total size of theone or more RUs is equal to or less than 996 tones: a decimal value of 0of the two least significant bits indicates allocation of the one ormore RUs in a 20 or 40 or 80 MHz bandwidth, or in a first 80-MHz segmentof a 160-MHz bandwidth or the 320-MHz bandwidth, a decimal value of 1 ofthe two least significant bits indicates allocation of the one or moreRUs in a second 80-MHz segment of the 160 or 320-MHz bandwidth, adecimal value of 2 of the two least significant bits indicatesallocation of the one or more RUs in a third 80-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth, and a decimal value of 3 of the two least significantbits indicates allocation of the one or more RUs in a fourth 80-MHzsegment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein, inan event that a total size of the one or more RUs is greater than 996tones: a decimal value of 1 of the two least significant bits indicatesallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a first80-MHz segment and a second 80-MHz segment of the 160 or 320-MHzbandwidth and within a first 160-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, adecimal value of 2 of the two least significant bits indicatesallocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between a second80-MHz segment and a third 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth andwithin a first 240-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, and a decimalvalue of 3 of the two least significant bits indicates allocation of theone or more RUs across a boundary between a third 80-MHz segment and afourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein seven most significant bits of the 9-bit RU allocationsubfield indicate a size and indexing of the one or more RUs in an RUallocation table.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein a decimal value ina range of 0˜68 of the seven most significant bits indicates an entry inthe RU allocation table corresponding to a single RU, and wherein adecimal value of 68 of the seven most significant bits indicates anentry in the RU allocation table corresponding to two contiguous RUseach of a size of 996 tones.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein adecimal value of 119 of the seven most significant bits indicates anentry in the RU allocation table corresponding to a single RU with fourcontiguous RUs each of a size of 996 tones.
 12. The method of claim 9,wherein a decimal value in a range of 69˜118 of the seven mostsignificant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of multiple RUs.
 13. The method of claim9, wherein a decimal value in a range of 69˜74 of the seven mostsignificant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones (RU26) and one RUof 52 tones (RU52).
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein a decimal valuein a range of 75˜82 of the seven most significant bits indicates anentry in the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of oneRU of 26 tones (RU26) and one RU of 106 tones (RU106).
 15. The method ofclaim 9, wherein a decimal value in a range of 83˜86 of the seven mostsignificant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones (RU242) and oneRU of 484 tones (RU484).
 16. The method of claim 9, wherein a decimalvalue in a range of 87˜90 of the seven most significant bits indicatesan entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation ofone RU of 484 tones (RU484) and one RU of 996 tones (RU996).
 17. Themethod of claim 9, wherein a decimal value in a range of 91˜98 of theseven most significant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones (RU242),one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and one RU of 996 tones (RU996).
 18. Themethod of claim 9, wherein a decimal value in a range of 99˜100 of theseven most significant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of two RUs each of 996 tones(2×RU996).
 19. The method of claim 9, wherein a decimal value in a rangeof 101˜106 of the seven most significant bits indicates an entry in theRU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484tones (RU484) and two RUs each of 996 tones (2×RU996).
 20. The method ofclaim 9, wherein a decimal value in a range of 107˜110 of the seven mostsignificant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of three RUs each of 996 tones(3×RU996).
 21. The method of claim 9, wherein a decimal value in a rangeof 111˜118 of the seven most significant bits indicates an entry in theRU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484tones (RU484) and three RUs each of 996 tones (3×RU996).
 22. A method,comprising: receiving a trigger frame indicating a 9-bit RU allocationsubfield; determining allocation of one or more resource units (RUs) ina bandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth according to the 9-bit RUallocation subfield in an RU allocation table which indicates single RUsof different sizes and a plurality of aggregations of multiple RUs; andperforming an uplink (UL) transmission using the one or more RUsresponsive to receiving the trigger frame.
 23. The method of claim 22,wherein two least significant bits of the 9-bit RU allocation subfieldindicate in which one or more of up to four 80-MHz segments of thebandwidth up to a 320-MHz bandwidth the one or more RUs are allocated,and wherein: in an event that a total size of the one or more RUs isequal to or less than 996 tones: a decimal value of 0 of the two leastsignificant bits indicates allocation of the one or more RUs in a 20 or40 or 80-MHz bandwidth, or in a first 80-MHz segment of a 160-MHzbandwidth or the 320-MHz bandwidth, a decimal value of 1 of the twoleast significant bits indicates allocation of the one or more RUs in asecond 80-MHz segment of the 160 or 320-MHz bandwidth, a decimal valueof 2 of the two least significant bits indicates allocation of the oneor more RUs in a third 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHz bandwidth, and adecimal value of 3 of the two least significant bits indicatesallocation of the one or more RUs in a fourth 80-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth, in an event that a total size of the one or more RUsis greater than 996 tones: a decimal value of 1 of the two leastsignificant bits indicates allocation of the one or more RUs across aboundary between a first 80-MHz segment and a second 80-MHz segment ofthe 160 or 320-MHz bandwidth and within a first 160-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth, a decimal value of 2 of the two least significantbits indicates allocation of the one or more RUs across a boundarybetween a second 80-MHz segment and a third 80-MHz segment of the320-MHz bandwidth and within a first 240-MHz segment of the 320-MHzbandwidth, and a decimal value of 3 of the two least significant bitsindicates allocation of the one or more RUs across a boundary between athird 80-MHz segment and a fourth 80-MHz segment of the 320-MHzbandwidth.
 24. The method of claim 22, wherein seven most significantbits of the 9-bit RU allocation subfield indicate a size and indexing ofthe one or more RUs in an RU allocation table, and wherein: a decimalvalue in a range of 0˜68 of the seven most significant bits indicates anentry in the RU allocation table corresponding to a single RU, a decimalvalue of 68 of the seven most significant bits indicates an entry in theRU allocation table corresponding to two contiguous RUs each of a sizeof 996 tones, a decimal value of 119 of the seven most significant bitsindicates an entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to a singleRU with four contiguous RUs each of a size of 996 tones, a decimal valuein a range of 69˜118 of the seven most significant bits indicates anentry in the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation ofmultiple RUs, a decimal value in a range of 69˜74 of the seven mostsignificant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones (RU26) and one RUof 52 tones (RU52), a decimal value in a range of 75˜82 of the sevenmost significant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 26 tones (RU26) and one RUof 106 tones (RU106), a decimal value in a range of 83˜86 of the sevenmost significant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocation tablecorresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones (RU242) and oneRU of 484 tones (RU484), a decimal value in a range of 87˜90 of theseven most significant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones (RU484) andone RU of 996 tones (RU996), a decimal value in a range of 91˜98 of theseven most significant bits indicates an entry in the RU allocationtable corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 242 tones (RU242),one RU of 484 tones (RU484) and one RU of 996 tones (RU996), a decimalvalue in a range of 99˜100 of the seven most significant bits indicatesan entry in the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation oftwo RUs each of 996 tones (2×RU996), a decimal value in a range of101˜106 of the seven most significant bits indicates an entry in the RUallocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones(RU484) and two RUs each of 996 tones (2×RU996), a decimal value in arange of 107˜110 of the seven most significant bits indicates an entryin the RU allocation table corresponding to an aggregation of three RUseach of 996 tones (3×RU996), and a decimal value in a range of 111˜118of the seven most significant bits indicates an entry in the RUallocation table corresponding to an aggregation of one RU of 484 tones(RU484) and three RUs each of 996 tones (3×RU996).